Frida Berrigan | |
---|---|
Personal | |
Born | Baltimore, Maryland, U.S. | April 1, 1974
Religion | Roman Catholic, Unitarian |
Frida Berrigan (born 1974) is an American peace activist and author. She published the 2015 book, It Runs in the Family: On Being Raised by Radicals and Growing into Rebellious Motherhood, about her life in a family of prominent activists and her own philosophies of parenting. [1] Raised in the Plowshares movement, she has been featured in documentaries and studies of the movement, including award-winning director Susan Hagedorn's 2021 The Berrigans: Devout and Dangerous. [2] [3] Frida Berrigan has documented and interpreted the movement's history and meaning from her first-hand perspective for a global audience.
Frida Berrigan, named for her paternal grandmother, [4] was born on April 1, 1974, in Baltimore, Maryland to Elizabeth McAlister and Philip Berrigan, a former nun and priest turned radical Catholic peace activists. [5] [6] They lived in the Jonah House community, which they co-founded. [7]
Her mother is most recently a member of the Kings Bay Plowshares 7, and her father co-established both the Catonsville Nine and the Plowshares movement. Frida is the older sister of Jerry and Kate Berrigan, and the niece of Jesuit peace activist Daniel Berrigan. [8] In 1971, both Philip and Daniel made the cover of Time magazine as "rebel priests" while Philip was still in the Josephite order. [9] [10] Frida Berrigan has estimated that her parents spent 11 of their 29 years of marriage incarcerated for antiwar activities, which affected family life. [4] In her memoir she recalls both parents accidentally being arrested at the same time when she was three and her brother just one; community members cared for the children. [1] She was first arrested at age 8, during a protest at the US Capitol. [4]
She attended the selective, majority-Black magnet Baltimore City High School. [11] She attended Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts after receiving a scholarship that covered the majority of the costs; she covered the remaining $800 per semester herself by working at a food co-op. [4] She graduated in 1997, while her father was in jail in Maine for the "Prince of Peace" Plowshares action at Bath Iron Works. [12] [13] [14] In college she studied with Pakistani political scientist Eqbal Ahmed, and she worked for Frances Crowe at the American Friends Service Committee. [15]
Her first job after college was spending two years working for a Central America solidarity organization in Baltimore. [12] She left to intern at The Nation in New York City, and write about military policy, nuclear weapons, and the arms trade for a think tank, the Arms and Security Initiative, a position she held until early 2010. [16] She joined the World Policy Institute's Arms Trade Resource Center, led by William D. Hartung. [12] [17] In another Hartung endeavor, she was a senior program associate at the New America Foundation's Arms and Security Initiative, also at the World Policy Institute, prior to February 2010. [16] She is on the board of the War Resisters League, a secular pacifist organization that marked its centennial in 2023, and serves as a member of its national committee. [18]
In 2005 she cofounded Witness Against Torture with Matthew Daloisio and others, to work for the closure of the Guantánamo Bay detention center and end the US-backed use of torture. [19] Berrigan is currently a columnist for Waging Nonviolence, [20] and she has written columns and op-eds for The Day. [21]
She has been a mayoral candidate for the city of New London, Connecticut, running for the Green Party. [22] Her platform focused on affordable home ownership, in conjunction with her role as a convener of the New London chapter of the Southeastern Connecticut Community Land Trust. [23] She is also a member of the Connecticut Committee for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. [24] She teaches a first-year seminar at Connecticut College, focusing on disarmament. [25] In 2016, Berrigan estimated she had been arrested around 20 times for activism-related reasons. [4]
Prior to 2010, Berrigan lived in Redhook, Brooklyn, New York City. [16] In 2010 she moved to the Maryhouse Catholic Worker in New York, [4] where she lived until her marriage. [26] Around the same time, she reconnected with Patrick Sheehan-Gaumer, also a member of the War Resisters League. The two began dating and married in June 2011 at All Souls Unitarian Universalist Congregation in New London, [4] [16] in order to meet Sheehan-Gaumer, an atheist, halfway on faith. [27]
She lives in New London, Connecticut with her husband, a social worker who grew up in the same peace circles, and their three children. [4] [16] She categorizes herself as an urban farmer, and also a community activist. She does not consider herself a lapsed Catholic, but rather "a Catholic in waiting, waiting for my church to remember the Gospels, to be a justice and peace-seeking community, to be fully inclusive of women and to be welcoming to people who are not hetero-normative. Pope Francis is a step in the right direction, but there is a long way to go". [27]
Frida Berrigan | |
---|---|
Personal | |
Born | Baltimore, Maryland, U.S. | April 1, 1974
Religion | Roman Catholic, Unitarian |
Frida Berrigan (born 1974) is an American peace activist and author. She published the 2015 book, It Runs in the Family: On Being Raised by Radicals and Growing into Rebellious Motherhood, about her life in a family of prominent activists and her own philosophies of parenting. [1] Raised in the Plowshares movement, she has been featured in documentaries and studies of the movement, including award-winning director Susan Hagedorn's 2021 The Berrigans: Devout and Dangerous. [2] [3] Frida Berrigan has documented and interpreted the movement's history and meaning from her first-hand perspective for a global audience.
Frida Berrigan, named for her paternal grandmother, [4] was born on April 1, 1974, in Baltimore, Maryland to Elizabeth McAlister and Philip Berrigan, a former nun and priest turned radical Catholic peace activists. [5] [6] They lived in the Jonah House community, which they co-founded. [7]
Her mother is most recently a member of the Kings Bay Plowshares 7, and her father co-established both the Catonsville Nine and the Plowshares movement. Frida is the older sister of Jerry and Kate Berrigan, and the niece of Jesuit peace activist Daniel Berrigan. [8] In 1971, both Philip and Daniel made the cover of Time magazine as "rebel priests" while Philip was still in the Josephite order. [9] [10] Frida Berrigan has estimated that her parents spent 11 of their 29 years of marriage incarcerated for antiwar activities, which affected family life. [4] In her memoir she recalls both parents accidentally being arrested at the same time when she was three and her brother just one; community members cared for the children. [1] She was first arrested at age 8, during a protest at the US Capitol. [4]
She attended the selective, majority-Black magnet Baltimore City High School. [11] She attended Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts after receiving a scholarship that covered the majority of the costs; she covered the remaining $800 per semester herself by working at a food co-op. [4] She graduated in 1997, while her father was in jail in Maine for the "Prince of Peace" Plowshares action at Bath Iron Works. [12] [13] [14] In college she studied with Pakistani political scientist Eqbal Ahmed, and she worked for Frances Crowe at the American Friends Service Committee. [15]
Her first job after college was spending two years working for a Central America solidarity organization in Baltimore. [12] She left to intern at The Nation in New York City, and write about military policy, nuclear weapons, and the arms trade for a think tank, the Arms and Security Initiative, a position she held until early 2010. [16] She joined the World Policy Institute's Arms Trade Resource Center, led by William D. Hartung. [12] [17] In another Hartung endeavor, she was a senior program associate at the New America Foundation's Arms and Security Initiative, also at the World Policy Institute, prior to February 2010. [16] She is on the board of the War Resisters League, a secular pacifist organization that marked its centennial in 2023, and serves as a member of its national committee. [18]
In 2005 she cofounded Witness Against Torture with Matthew Daloisio and others, to work for the closure of the Guantánamo Bay detention center and end the US-backed use of torture. [19] Berrigan is currently a columnist for Waging Nonviolence, [20] and she has written columns and op-eds for The Day. [21]
She has been a mayoral candidate for the city of New London, Connecticut, running for the Green Party. [22] Her platform focused on affordable home ownership, in conjunction with her role as a convener of the New London chapter of the Southeastern Connecticut Community Land Trust. [23] She is also a member of the Connecticut Committee for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. [24] She teaches a first-year seminar at Connecticut College, focusing on disarmament. [25] In 2016, Berrigan estimated she had been arrested around 20 times for activism-related reasons. [4]
Prior to 2010, Berrigan lived in Redhook, Brooklyn, New York City. [16] In 2010 she moved to the Maryhouse Catholic Worker in New York, [4] where she lived until her marriage. [26] Around the same time, she reconnected with Patrick Sheehan-Gaumer, also a member of the War Resisters League. The two began dating and married in June 2011 at All Souls Unitarian Universalist Congregation in New London, [4] [16] in order to meet Sheehan-Gaumer, an atheist, halfway on faith. [27]
She lives in New London, Connecticut with her husband, a social worker who grew up in the same peace circles, and their three children. [4] [16] She categorizes herself as an urban farmer, and also a community activist. She does not consider herself a lapsed Catholic, but rather "a Catholic in waiting, waiting for my church to remember the Gospels, to be a justice and peace-seeking community, to be fully inclusive of women and to be welcoming to people who are not hetero-normative. Pope Francis is a step in the right direction, but there is a long way to go". [27]